text · B0021
Sefer Yirmiyahu ספר ירמיהו
Forty years of warning before the churban, and consolation after it. This is the one prophetic book whose writing is narrated inside the book itself: Yirmiyahu dictates his prophecies to Baruch ben Neriah, the king burns the scroll, and prophet and scribe write it again, longer. The baraita of Bava Batra confirms the obvious — "Yirmiyahu wrote his book" — making it a rare case where the tradition's map of authorship and Scripture's own narrative meet on the same page.
I. Who
- Hebrew
- ספר ירמיהו
- Also known as
- Yirmiyahu, Jeremiah, Book of Jeremiah
- Era
- bible
II. When
- Traditional
- written down by Yirmiyahu, dictation to Baruch attested from Yehoyakim's fourth year, c. 3316–3350 AM per Bava Batra 15a
- Academic
- core from the prophet's career (late 7th–early 6th c. BCE) with exilic expansion; Hebrew and Greek editions differ
- Duration
- ≈34 years
- Precision
- approximate
IV. What
- Language
- Biblical Hebrew
V. How do we know
| Claim | Evidence | Confidence | Sources |
|---|---|---|---|
| "Yirmiyahu wrote his book, and the book of Melachim, and Kinot" (ירמיה כתב ספרו וספר מלכים וקינות) — the baraita of Bava Batra. | rabbinic | ★★★★☆ | |
| The book describes its own writing: "and Baruch wrote from the mouth of Yirmiyahu all the words of Hashem... on a scroll" (Yirmiyahu 36:4), dated there to Yehoyakim's fourth year.
Confidence is for what the biblical text states about itself. |
biblical | ★★★★★ | |
| Timeline placement c. 3316–3350 AM: from the attested dictation to Baruch through the end of Yirmiyahu's career after the churban. The span is schematic. | tradition reconstruction | ★★★☆☆ |